U2 album still 'planned for this year'

Amid rumours that the band have halted work on the new album, a spokesperson has confirmed that U2 are on schedule for the 2014 follow up to No Line on the Horizon

Sean Michaels, The Guardian

Despite fresh claims that U2 have pushed their new record and world tour back to 2015, a spokesperson for the band has confirmed that their 13th album is still on course for this year.

The band, who are nearing completion of a record that was expected this summer, had been rumoured to halt plans on the new release and instead book studio sessions with Adele writer/producers Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder. While the switch in producer from long-term collaborator Steve Lillywhite is yet to be addressed, a spokesperson for the band has dispelled claims that the album will be delayed until 2015: "U2's album is planned for this year, is still on track and touring plans haven't been confirmed yet," they told the Guardian.

According to recent interviews with the band, Danger Mouse remains the album's central producer, however Billboard reported that Bono and company have scheduled additional recording sessions with hit-makers Tedder and Epworth. Epworth, an architect of Adele's sound and co-producer of records like Paul McCartney's New and Plan B's The Defamation Of Strickland Banks, has previously worked on a couple of U2 remixes. Tedder, however, is new to the U2 camp: the OneRepublic frontman is best known for pop and pop-rock smashes like Beyoncé's Halo and Leona Lewis's Bleeding Love.

In a recent interview with the frontman, Bono suggested that the band were questioning their relevancy before recording the follow up to No Line on the Horizon. "We were trying to figure out, 'Why would anyone want another U2 album?'" he told BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe last month. Releasing Invisible seems to have been a way to test the waters. "I think Invisible is a great song, but I don't know how accessible it is," Bono said. "We'll find out if we're irrelevant." Though it was downloaded by three million people in a charity deal with Bank of America, the single peaked at No 65 on the UK singles list and didn't even crack America's Billboard Hot 100.

"The album won't be ready till it's ready," Bono told the Hollywood Reporter in mid-February. Ironically, U2's long-delayed 13th studio album initially seemed like it would be the group's swiftest to complete: the same week that No Line On The Horizon came out, Bono promised a "meditative" and "processional" companion LP before the end of 2009.

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